Kingdom Bloodline

Chapter 1 The Beggar

Chapter 1 The Beggar
"Therefore, Baudrillard believed that 'things' and 'demands' are false symbols. He criticized Marx's theory of use value, arguing that the latter also fell into the trap of capitalist political economy, and thus proposed his own symbolic political economy."

After finishing his presentation, Wu Qiren opened the last slide, nodded to the teacher and a dozen classmates to express his gratitude, and left the podium at the teacher's signal to wait for the next student's presentation.

"Thales!"

The next moment, Wu Qiren, a former graduate student, woke up from his dream.

He huddled up, lying in a cold, dilapidated hole in the wall, feeling the chilly wind blowing in from all directions.

Wu Qiren sighed. Five years after his transmigration, he still had dreams from his past life.

Life before transmigrating was certainly boring, but it was still better than the miserable situation I was in now.

"Thales, hey, Thales!"

A large hand reached out from the hole in the wall, grabbed Wu Qiren's ear, and roughly dragged him out of the dilapidated little house.

This is a dilapidated house. Through the half-collapsed roof, you can see the bright stars in the night sky, but the arrangement and shape of the Milky Way are completely unfamiliar to Wu Qiren.

Wu Qiren was powerless to resist that brutal hand: what could a seven-year-old child do?
His knees were chafed raw.

But he gritted his teeth and remained silent—Quaid was particularly impatient with the child's cries.

“I asked Rick, and your allowance this week is five coppers less than last week! Did you swindle it?” Quaid, enraged, resembled a red-maned lion, his protruding nose making him appear even more ferocious.

Wu Qiren was thrown to the ground. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the holes in the walls around him and the five beggar children who shared the room with him, ranging in age from four to ten, all trembling in fear at Quaid's roar.

In the innermost hole in the wall, the smallest girl with short hair was biting her left hand tightly, her face flushed, looking at Wu Qiren on the ground with fear. In the hole next to her, a six-year-old boy named Ned was so frightened that he screamed.

That was Kolya, and Wu Qiren knew what she was afraid of.

In fact, Wu Qiren had good luck this week. He, Beggar Thales—Wu Qiren's current name—earned a total of thirty-seven copper coins this week, eighteen more than last week.

But he only handed over fourteen copper coins to Quaid—the leader of the Black Street Brotherhood who was in charge of the beggar business—and took the rest of the copper coins, along with the money he had painstakingly saved over the past two years, and went to Grove's Pharmacy, where he "bought" a dose of typhoid medicine at cost price from the kind helper Jenny.

Thales gave the medicine to four-year-old Coria: at her age, typhoid fever without medicine would almost certainly mean death.

In the five years since his transmigration, Thales has relived the memory formation period from age two to seven, gradually recovering fragments of his past life memories from a bewildered toddler.

Among these, the child's memories appear fragmented and scattered. Even so, during these five years from ignorance to lucidity, each time Thales witnessed the death of another person, it left a deep impression on him.

From dying of illness, falling to death, drowning, hanging, and even—once, Thales witnessed a crying beggar suffocate to death under his powers—the Black Street Brotherhood, which profits from the human trafficking business, has never had any bottom line or principles.

Even gangs need time to develop rules and order.

The Brotherhood, which originated in the Black Streets, has only been around for a little over ten years from its rise to its current size.

Even the Blood Bottle Gang, the Brotherhood's arch-rival with a 90-year history and known as the "aristocrats of the underworld," has a long history of bloodshed.

Most of the time, Thales was powerless to stop the deaths he witnessed. Even he himself only managed to escape being killed more than once by relying on fragmented memories from his past life.

For example, right now, Quaid is rubbing his hands together in excitement, his eyes revealing the brutality and ruthlessness unique to a gangster sadist.

“I didn’t keep anything! It’s winter this week, and there are far fewer people passing through the three districts of the lower city…” Thales got up from the ground, his mind racing, and spouted out the excuse he had made up.

"Snapped!"

He was met with a merciless slap, and Thales lost his balance and fell back to the ground.

"Hand over your hidden money, and I'll beat you up! Or I'll beat you up first, and then you hand over the money! The choice is yours!"

Clearly, Quaid didn't want to hear his explanation.

This fraternity leader might just want to extort some money for drinks, or he might simply want to get someone beaten up.

“But of course, you can be stubborn too. I love stubborn kids.” Quaid grinned and cracked his knuckles.

Looking at the fist in front of him, which was as big as a sandbag, Thales knew that even if he didn't say anything, Quaid wouldn't let him go.

Just last month, Quaid tortured and killed a beggar from the Fifth House.

Thales covered his swollen cheek and thought quickly.

On ordinary days, Quaid doesn't care about the accounts. He spends his nights partying at the Sunset Bar in the underground city or just wandering around with a bottle of liquor. He can hardly remember how many Middle copper coins one Mindis silver coin can be exchanged for, let alone how much money his beggars under his command have paid—that was all handled by his deputy, the seemingly reliable and steady Rick.

Even someone as shrewd as Rick knew that it was perfectly normal for the beggars' weekly allowance to fluctuate between seven or eight copper coins.

Someone informed on them.

This is the only conclusion.

Thales glanced around at the beggars.

He got the money from the noblewoman and went straight back to the abandoned house. The children in the house must have seen him.

In harsh environments, children's hearts can become more terrifying than adults imagine.

Quaid kicked again, and Thales secretly used his elbow to protect his abdomen, slightly reducing the force of the kick. He pretended to be in excruciating pain, as if he had been kicked in agony—he couldn't make a sound, Quaid loved the children's screams.

"I'll talk, I'll talk!" Thales' face showed fear. "Don't hit me!"

“That depends on my mood!” Quaid looked around and saw the other five beggars cowering in fear, which pleased him: his authority was being respected.

“On Wednesday morning, I met a noble lady who gave me almost ten copper coins!” Thales said, trembling as he hid in the corner.

"I knew it! Begging? It must have been stolen, right? No one can fool me, especially a petty thief like you!" Quaid rubbed his hands together viciously, preparing for the next round of beatings: "Hand over the money!"

Before Quaid could even raise an eyebrow, Thales added:
"But I went to Red Town Street!"

“Red Street?” Quaid lowered his raised hand slightly. “You went to the Blood Bottle Gang’s territory?”

"Yes, we really can't get any more money in our area." Apart from the Brotherhood's thugs, skilled rangers, and certain individuals with ulterior motives, who would be so foolish as to linger in the three abandoned districts near Black Street? Even the city guards, armed with swords and shields, are unwilling to approach this place rife with crime.

"This was the first time I'd made so much money, and the Blood Bottle Gang hadn't shown up. So I thought there might be another chance the next day."

"idiot!"

Thales was met with another hard kick, and he saw Kolia shudder in the distance.

Quaid then burst out cursing, "Red Street? Blood Bottle Gang's territory, where are you going to find so many easy bargains?"

Thales flinched and trembled as he said, “Yes, the next afternoon, the Blood Bottle Gang caught me. They hung me up, and I told them I was lost, but they didn’t believe me. I handed over all the money, but they still wouldn’t let me go.”

"Useless trash! How did you escape?" Quaid spat fiercely.

"Then I said I was from this abandoned house, from Quaid Rhoda, Quaid's man, and they, they laughed out loud."

"What?" Quaid clenched his fists, grabbed Thales by the tattered collar of his burlap coat, and lifted him up from the corner. "What are those damned red turbans laughing at?"

Thales shook his head in confusion: "I don't quite understand... what they're saying."

Quaid's face contorted in a grimace: "Speak!"

Thales feigned fear, shuddering slightly as he stammered, "There's a bald guy among them..."

"Bald?" Quaid shook his head, as if remembering something:
"Spin? The bald Spin from the West Ring District? The one who collects debts for the Red Turbans?"

“I don’t know,” Thales shook his head in fear.

"But the bald man said that since he was one of Quaid's kids, they should spare his life, because Quaid desperately needed children..."

Before Thales could finish speaking, Quaid slammed him against the wall!
boom!
The beggar tried his best to protect his head and chest, using his back to withstand the impact of the wall, and then immediately turned his back to Quaid to receive the heavy blows from his rage.

“You son of a bitch…you…bald…Spin…how did he know…to kill you…to kill you…useless…idiot…”

Quaid roared furiously, kicking Thales repeatedly while uttering only a few incoherent words.

Thales gritted his teeth, sensing the direction of the pain, and constantly shifting the angle of his back to cushion the impact of the blows.

"Fuck you, fuck you, you idiot, you bastard, fuck you..."

Through the hole in the wall, several children watched in horror as Thales was brutally beaten, but they all covered their mouths tightly, afraid to make a sound.

Despite enduring Quaid's relentless kicks, Thales secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

Although he looks terrifying, Quaid in a rage is far safer than Quaid torturing children with a glee.

More importantly—now, Quaid won't ask about money anymore.

Thales's words were half true and half false:
He did go to Red Street, but he hid in a dark alley, cautiously observing his surroundings and wary of the Blood Bottle Gang's red-headed men. He did encounter a noblewoman in a goose-down gown, but she was accompanied by at least twenty Terminator swordsmen, which is why the Blood Bottle Gang didn't interrupt him when he ran out of the alley to beg.

Thales did indeed get a lot of money from that downy noblewoman—he certainly wasn't stupid enough to steal in front of twenty Terminator swordsmen, but before the noblewoman's party had gone far, he quickly disappeared into the crowd and never returned.

As for bald Spin, Thales had never met him before, only knowing that he was the head of the Blood Bottle Gang's henchmen who collected illicit debts.

Quaid used to be a henchman in the Brotherhood who collected black debts—until one time Quaid messed with the wrong person and got his lower body injured. This news was kept secret until Thales found out while lying in the corner of the Brotherhood’s main building, listening to the assassins Lyok and Belisia fighting like fairies in the room, and then privately mocking Quaid.

After Quaid finished venting his anger, cursing the bald Spin of the Blood Bottle Gang, he pulled out a bottle from his pocket and left, grumbling. By then, Thales's clothes were torn to shreds, and his back was covered in bruises.

Because Thales deliberately turned to the side to avoid a direct hit, some areas were scraped and bled, and waves of pain came.

Blood flowed to the ground, and Thales felt a burning pain.

Perhaps because he hadn't been beaten up in so long, he felt as if his muscles were on fire.

Since transmigrating to this world, being beaten, hungry, sick, and cold has been a daily occurrence. However, after gradually regaining the memories belonging to graduate student Wu Qiren, Thales, relying on his caution and past experience, has not been beaten so viciously in a long time.

After Quaid's voice faded away, the other five children in the house crawled out of their holes and skillfully carried the helpless Thales into the yard.

Ten-year-old "Big Guy" Cindy grabbed a shard of a curved broken bowl and scooped water from the water vat. Lame Ryan and Blackface Kelly, both eight, laboriously gathered dry twigs and wild grass, trying to start a fire with a flint. Six-year-old blond Ned and the youngest, Coria, picked a few oddly shaped wild leaves, chewed them, and gently rubbed them on Thales's battered back.

Thales, gritting his teeth against the pain, tried to distract himself. He looked at the tearful Coria, then turned to the dejected blond Ned, trying his best to keep his tone calm.

“It’s alright, Ned, I don’t blame you.”

Ned looked up abruptly, his face filled with terror, and the other four children also turned to look at him.

"How did you know?" The six-year-old couldn't hide his feelings; guilt and fear were written all over his face.

Just now, while Thales was being brutally beaten by Quaid, the three older children, though terrified, all stared intently at this side.

Only Coria and Ned, one hiding her face in her hands and not daring to look up, and the other staring into the wall, occasionally glancing back in fear.

Kolia's typhoid medicine was the final destination of those copper coins, so she certainly wouldn't betray them, but Thales still wasn't sure if it was Ned.

Now there is no doubt.

He forced a smile: "It's alright, Quaid won't get involved in this anymore."

“I, I,” Ned’s face was flushed red. He looked at Thales’ back, tears streaming down his face. “I didn’t get any money this week, and I don’t dare to steal.”

He sobbed:

“Rick didn’t say anything, but Quaid was very unhappy. He said if this continued, he would sell me to the Great Desert to be eaten by the Bone People. I was so scared, so I told him, ‘Thales, Thales, one day you brought back so many copper coins…’ I thought they wouldn’t do this to me… Then Quaid sent me back, saying he would come over that night…”

Kolia's face also turned red, and her hand, which was applying the herbs, trembled violently, causing a few drops of blood to drip from Thales' back onto the ground.

Thales groaned silently as the burning pain subsided, only to be aroused again by Kolia's actions.

Ryan glared angrily at Ned, causing the latter to lower his head even further. Kelly looked at Ned in surprise, then at Thales. Only Cindy remained silent, continuing to bring the water over.

Thales's eyes darkened as he looked at Ned.

The child is only six years old.

Thales told himself that.

He knew almost nothing, and in his fear and panic, he spoke recklessly in front of Quaid.

He shouldn't have to suffer such a fate in such a place.

“It’s alright, Ned, Coria,” Thales breathed a sigh of relief, feeling his back injury had healed considerably. He gently took Ned’s hand. “But, you saw what Quaid did, didn’t you…”

Ned let out a fearful whimper.

Thales looked at him intently:
"Next time, if any of you still can't get your money back, just tell me, and I'll figure something out."

“Compared to Quaid, we’re the ones on the same side.”

Ned cried even harder, his words choked with sobs and somewhat indistinct:

“Ty...Tyrs, yes, no, I'm sorry…”

Thales watched silently as Ned sobbed.

Finally, he turned his head and took a deep breath.

“It’s alright now, Ned,” Thales sighed softly, took the broken bowl from Cindy’s hand, took a sip of water, and said gently:

"Don't be afraid, I always have a way."

Apart from Ned, who was sobbing uncontrollably, the children watched the scene timidly, without saying a word.

Thales stared at the ground beneath him, his gaze gradually freezing.

Compared to his predecessors who had traversed countless worlds, his luck was undoubtedly much worse.

But even so.

Thales looked at the five children around him, especially Kolya, who was recovering from typhoid fever and whose bright eyes still held a trace of fear.

At least, he thought he should make more money tomorrow.

----

In the Sunset Temple of Eternal Star City, after the sunset prayers had ended, an intern priest who was tidying up the altar stopped what he was doing.

She stared in astonishment at a lamp filled with eternal oil beneath the stone altar.

This inconspicuous altar lamp had never been lit or used since she began tending to the altar, so it was never actually lit...

Suddenly, bright yellow flames ignited.

The flames flickered, changing from yellow to red and then to crimson.

Like the color of blood, it grows ever more vibrant.

An older priestess noticed the intern's lapse in behavior and reprimanded her with displeasure.

"Nia!"

The intern then shifted his attention back to the altar.

But she cried out in surprise when the elder priest herself saw the unusual lamp.

"Nia, quick, quickly inform the High Priest!"

The elder priestess could not hide her surprise. Trembling, she rushed to the lamp, raised her right palm, turned her left palm up, and made a prayer gesture, muttering incantations.

"The setting sun is above..."

What's going on here?
Intern Nia stood there, stunned.

This was the first time she had ever seen the esteemed priest so out of control, and she was so affected by it that she was also affected.

Did I make a mistake?

But I didn't touch that lamp.

"But, but, what should we tell the high priest?"

Nia asked in a panic:

"Someone secretly lit a lamp beside the altar?"

The elder priest paused his prayers.

"Do not."

The elder priest stared intently at the lamp, then put down his prayer.

"This lamp, even if you search the entire world of Errol across its two continents and countless islands, can only be lit by one person."